Nottm Forest 2-1 Aston Villa: Match Report

04 February 2017 08:34

Teenage striker Ben Brereton scored deep into added time to extend Aston Villa's miserable run and maintain Nottingham Forest's revival under Gary Brazil with a last-gasp 2-1 win at the City Ground.

The 17-year-old product of Forest's academy drove home a decisive finish to break the resolve of Steve Bruce's side, who played the final 11 minutes of this Sky Bet Championship clash with 10 men following Jack Grealish's dismissal.

The game had looked destined to end in a draw after Britt Assombalonga had cancelled out Jonathan Kodjia's spectacular 19th minute opener - until Brereton's late intervention.

It left Villa to contemplate a seventh game without a victory while, for Forest, it was a third consecutive home win as they edge their way away from the wrong end of the table.

Zach Clough went about making a good first impression as he cut inside from the left to let fly with a powerful shot that, frustratingly for Forest, was always rising over the bar.

Stephen Henderson had to make the first save of the game, after Kodjia had found himself in space in a similar position on the edge of the opposite box, before striking a swerving shot that the Forest keeper did well to swat away for a corner.

After Clough had seen a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down, when he went down rather easily in the box, Scott Hogan came close to a debut goal for Villa as a mix-up in the Forest defence allowed him to prod an instinctive shot wide of the post.

The visitors took the lead in the 19th minute as a superb pass from Grealish split the home defence, picking out Kodjia on the left side of the box, from where he bent a powerful finish beyond the reach of Henderson and inside the far post.

It was a well-crafted goal and, when Forest came close to equalising, it was in a more direct manner as Jamie Ward won possession on the edge of the Villa box before hammering a shot wide of the upright.

Tommy Elphick had come close after Henderson had spilt a free-kick from Henri Lansbury, while at the other end Clough bent a free-kick of his own inches wide after he had curled a shot over the wall.

Forest's equaliser came three minutes before half-time when Ward drove in a powerful low shot that keeper Sam Johnstone could not hold and Assombalonga reacted quickest, pouncing on the loose ball and guiding it into the net from a few yards out.

Forest had two penalty claims early in the second half, once for handball as a shot from Ben Osborn was charged down and then again when Eric Lichaj had been blocked off - but both would have been soft.

Lichaj had to clear off the line when Henderson got down to save a thumping shot from Hogan, which was still spinning towards goal even after the keeper had got his body behind it.

Daniel Pinillos and David Vaughan both had shots for the hosts, but failed to trouble Johnstone, while Henderson had to make an outstanding save to deny Elphick after the defender had connected powerfully with a header, six yards out.

Grealish - who had been booked in the first half for kicking the ball away - tripped Lichaj as he carried the ball away from the Forest penalty area and got a second yellow card with 11 minutes remaining.

The visitors were running the clock down efficiently, as they took their time making three substitutions, with a wild shot from Clough and an angled drive from Brereton the closest Forest came.

That was until the third minute of injury time when Pinillos' cross was headed down by Assombalonga and teenager Brereton got his first senior goal, firing home off the inside of the post.